Symptoms of pituitary tumors

The pituitary gland is the organ that secretes the nine major hormones in the human body. Pathologies of the pituitary gland will directly affect the secretion of some hormones, and hormones can control most of the functional activities of the human body. Once there is a problem with hormone secretion, the human body will inevitably have corresponding adverse reactions. The diagnosis of pituitary tumors can also be made through a series of changes caused by hormonal changes. Below I will give you a detailed introduction to the symptoms of pituitary tumors.

What are the symptoms of early pituitary tumor patients?

Hormone secretion abnormalities

Syndromes of excessive hormone secretion, such as acromegaly caused by excessive growth hormone; Syndromes of insufficient hormone secretion. When the non-functioning tumor grows and the normal pituitary tissue is destroyed, amenorrhea occurs due to the decrease in gonadotropin secretion. Infertility or impotence often occurs first and is most common.

Tumor compresses the surrounding pituitary tissues

Nerve fiber irritation presents as a persistent headache.

Patients with optic nerve, chiasm and optic nerve bundle compression experience decreased vision, visual field defects and fundus changes; other compression syndromes.

Pituitary stroke.

Other manifestations of anterior pituitary hypofunction.

This is the most reliable diagnostic method with a very low misdiagnosis rate. Pathological diagnosis is based on ordinary section HE staining and light microscopic observation, which can only be used as a gross diagnosis and cannot distinguish the type of tumor. Immunohistochemical staining is used to make a diagnosis based on the hormones contained in tumor cells. It has a high sensitivity, but also a high misdiagnosis rate. Electron microscopy observation can distinguish tumor types based on the different characteristics of tumor cells, but it is rarely used in clinical practice.

Clinically, pituitary tumors are mainly benign tumors occurring on the pituitary gland, also known as pituitary adenomas. They are one of the common neuroendocrine tumors, accounting for 10% to 15% of central nervous system tumors. The vast majority of pituitary adenomas are benign tumors.